1985-05-01 - Wheeler, George 0-1 Burgess, Graham
Another King's Indian featuring Graham Burgess. The position becomes more of a Sicilian Dragon and in a Queenless middle-game Graham has some pressure. A series of errors from Wheeler turns a slightly worse position into a loss within a mere five moves!
[Event "COTSWOLD OPEN"] [Site "?"] [Date "1985.05.01"] [Round "?"] [White "Wheeler, George"] [Black "Burgess, Graham"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "E84"] [Annotator "Mordue,Tyson"] [PlyCount "60"] {Given in Issue 11 of Versus without notes. George Wheeler was a strong player from Plymouth and won the Paignton Premier in 1985 with Michael Adams.} 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 g6 3. e4 d6 4. d4 Bg7 5. f3 O-O 6. Be3 Nc6 7. Nge2 a6 8. Qd2 Rb8 9. Bh6 {Wheeler has adopted the Samisch Variation against Graham's King's Indian Defence. We saw the Samisch in Graham's game against Barton elsewhere on this page. Here Wheeler chooses a slightly less frequent line. Major alternatives are 9 Nc1, 9 Rb1 or c1 and 9 g4 or 9 h4. The swap of dark-square Bishops should dilute Black's defence of his King as well negate the prelate's play down the a1-h8 diagonal ... or it could just simply weaken White's central dark squares!} b5 10. Bxg7 Kxg7 11. cxb5 axb5 12. d5 Ne5 13. Nd4 b4 14. Nd1 Bd7 15. Ne3 {Finally diverging from Aloni-Kraidman, Israeli Championship 1967 which continued 15 Be2 c5 16 dxc6 Nxc6 17 Nxc6 Bxc6 18 0-0 Qb6+ 19 Kh1 Rb7 20 Ne3 Ra8 and Black had Queenside pressure similar to the game except with Queens on the board and White castled Kingside. The game was drawn in 49 moves after persistent White pressure that ultimately won a Pawn but Black had doubled Rooks on the 7th rank.} c5 16. dxc6 Nxc6 17. b3 {The position now looks more like a Sicilian Dragon and seems good for Black. He has a solid Pawn structure, an active position and a clear target on a2.} Nxd4 18. Qxd4 Be6 19. Bd3 Qb6 $1 {The Queenless middle-game is slightly better for Black and White has no choice but to go into it..} 20. Qxb6 Rxb6 21. Kd2 $6 {Deep Rybka doesn't like this, preferring 21 Rc1 followed by 22 Bb1 to defend a2 and then Ke1-f2-g3 for what purpose I don't know. I suppose Black wants to put his Knight on c3 but it's not easy to get it there.} Ra8 22. Rhc1 Nd7 23. Kc2 Nc5 24. Bf1 f5 $1 {Giving White an awkward choice. An isolated e-Pawn is not desirable and if White swaps on f5 and plays f3-f4 he concedes the e4 square.} 25. exf5 gxf5 {Here Wheeler is concerned about 26...f5-f4 and 27...Bf5+. However, the cure turns out to be worse than the disease because he now loses control of a6 and he goes downhill astonishingly quickly.} 26. Bc4 $2 {If 26 g3 then 26...f4! regardless followed by 27...Rf8 and Black's initiative is growing nicely. However, this was probably White's best line.} Bxc4 27. bxc4 $2 {Giving Black the option of ...b4-b3 which strains White's position to breaking point. Deep Rybka suggests 27 Nxc4 Rba6 28 a4 bxa3 29 Rd1 but Black can swap a3 for b3 and retain an extra Pawn.} Rba6 28. Rcb1 $2 {Obviously 28 Kb2?? Nd3+ is no good but 29 Kb1 b3 just wins the a2 Pawn anyway. However, the text doesn't help at all because the it simply loses a whole tempo.} b3+ 29. Kc3 {If 29 Kb2 bxa2+ 30 Rg1 Rb8+ and 31...Nb3 wins.} Rxa2 30. Rxa2 bxa2 {If 31 Ra1 Ra3+ 32 Kb2 or c2 Rxe3 is easy enough while 32 Kd2 Nb3+ wins the rook and 32 Kd4 Rd3 is mate.} 0-1
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